Systems and methods for facilitating communication between a plurality of building automation subsystems

Abstract

A computer-implemented system for facilitating communication between a plurality of building automation subsystems and a plurality of applications includes a first database storing a hierarchical model of a building automation system. The system further includes a second database storing information for the plurality of building automation subsystems. The second database stores each record with a projected semantic type string. The projected semantic type string includes multiple levels of type information and based on the hierarchical model stored in the first database. The system further includes a messaging engine configured to receive a message from one of the disparate building automation subsystems and for one of the plurality of applications. The messaging engine is configured to use the information in the second database to transform the message into a standard format, to append the projected semantic type string to the transformed message, and to provide the transformed message to one of the plurality of applications.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A computer-implemented system for facilitating communication between a plurality of building automation subsystems and a plurality of applications, comprising:
 a first database storing an ontological model of a building automation system (BAS), wherein the ontological model represents hierarchical relationships between BAS object types without storing data values for particular instances of BAS objects; 
 a second database storing information for the plurality of building automation subsystems, wherein the second database comprises at least one record for each of a plurality of BAS objects, wherein the second database stores each record with a projected semantic type string comprising multiple levels of hierarchical type information for each BAS object and based on the ontological model stored in the first database; and 
 a messaging engine configured to receive a message from one of the disparate building automation subsystems and for one of the plurality of applications, wherein the messaging engine is configured to use the information in the second database to transform the message into a standard format, to append the projected semantic type string to the transformed message, and to provide the transformed and appended message, including the projected semantic type string, to one of the plurality of applications. 
 
     
     
       2. The computer-implemented system of  claim 1 ,
 wherein relationships between the multiple hierarchical types for each building automation system object are represented by delimiters in the projected semantic type string; 
 wherein different delimiters represent different types of relationships and wherein the different delimiters representing different types of relationships separate hierarchical type identifiers within the projected type string. 
 
     
     
       3. The computer-implemented system of  claim 2 , further comprising:
 an indexing engine that maintains an index for the fact database by using building automation subsystem-specific information a key for a hash function. 
 
     
     
       4. The computer-implemented system of  claim 2 , further comprising:
 a query engine configured to use the hierarchical information of the fact database to query information from multiple building automation subsystems. 
 
     
     
       5. The computer-implemented system of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 a workflow engine configured to use stored subscription information to monitor new information received from the plurality of building subsystems. 
 
     
     
       6. The computer-implemented system of  claim 1 , wherein the workflow engine monitors the plurality of building subsystems by periodically executing a stored query using the query engine. 
     
     
       7. The computer-implemented system of  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of building subsystems comprise a first heating, cooling or air-conditioning (HVAC) system and a second HVAC system;
 wherein the plurality of applications comprise an HVAC management application and an energy management application. 
 
     
     
       8. The computer-implemented system of  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of building automation subsystems comprise a plurality of disparately protocolled building systems or subsystems. 
     
     
       9. The computer-implemented system of  claim 1 , wherein the first database, the second database, and the messaging engine reside in one or more memory devices local to an integration server and wherein the integration server comprises at least one processor for executing computer code stored in the memory devices and for controlling the messaging engine, first database, and the second database. 
     
     
       10. A computer-implemented method for facilitating communication between a plurality of building automation subsystems and a plurality of applications, comprising:
 storing a ontological model of a building automation system (BAS) in a first database, wherein the ontological model represents hierarchical relationships between BAS object types without storing data values for particular instances of BAS objects; 
 storing information for the plurality of building automation subsystems in a second database, wherein the second database comprises at least one record for each of a plurality of BAS objects, wherein the second database stores each record with a projected semantic type string comprising multiple levels of hierarchical type information for each BAS object and based on the ontological model stored in the first database; 
 receiving a message from one of the plurality of building automation subsystems and for one of the plurality of applications at a messaging engine; 
 using the information in the second database to transform the message into a standard format; 
 using the messaging engine to append the projected semantic type string to the transformed message, and 
 providing the transformed and appended message, including the projected semantic type string, to one of the plurality of applications. 
 
     
     
       11. The computer-implemented method of  claim 10 , wherein the first database is an ontology database; and
 wherein the second database is a fact database and the projected semantic type string describes a type hierarchy for each building automation system object. 
 
     
     
       12. The computer-implemented method of  claim 11 , wherein relationships of the type hierarchy are represented by delimiters in the projected semantic type string. 
     
     
       13. The computer-implemented method of  claim 12 , wherein different delimiters represent different types of relationships. 
     
     
       14. The computer-implemented method of  claim 13 , further comprising:
 maintaining an index for the fact database by using building automation subsystem-specific information a key for a hash function. 
 
     
     
       15. The computer-implemented method of  claim 13 , further comprising:
 using the hierarchical information of the fact database to relate and query information from the plurality of building automation subsystems. 
 
     
     
       16. The computer-implemented system of  claim 10 , further comprising:
 using stored subscription information to monitor new information received from the plurality of building automation subsystems. 
 
     
     
       17. The computer-implemented method of  claim 16 , further comprising:
 using a workflow engine to monitor the plurality of building automation subsystems by periodically executing a stored query. 
 
     
     
       18. The computer-implemented method of  claim 10 , wherein the plurality of building automation subsystems comprise a plurality of disparately protocolled building systems or subsystems.